


Take A Chance

by UnsettledRepose



Category: Midnight Poppy Land (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:48:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26438203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnsettledRepose/pseuds/UnsettledRepose
Summary: Based upon Secret Garden #36 from LilyDusk’s Patreon.Poppylan Wilkes didn’t know how she ended up teaching 12th grade English in her first year, but nothing had prepared her for how chaotic her year would be. Nursing the wounds of her recent breakup, she grabs the attention of the most belligerent student in the school.
Relationships: Tora/Poppy Wilkes
Comments: 34
Kudos: 145





	Take A Chance

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been obsessed with these two lately and really wanted to get something out. This has not been beta read. And if you know where I can find a beta reader for MPL fics please point me in the right direction.

A palpable silence filled the air in the teacher’s lounge as they all rushed to heat their meals and take advantage of the lunch period. Poppy tapped her foot, anxiously. Everything had been so awkward since they had called off their engagement. All of the other teachers had found out one way or the other and she didn’t know what was worse, the sympathetic looks or the whispers behind her back. It was even worse when both of them were in the room.

‘Ugh, this is what I get for working with my potential significant other.’ Her business would be all over the school at this rate. She was only a first year teacher and she had an inkling they were all looking down at her. Hot meal in hand she fled to her classroom, eager to get some peace and quiet before the start of her next period. 

Peace and quiet apparently entailed going over a stack of tests that she had yet to grade. She really loved teaching but getting thrown into 12th grade English in her first year as an educator had been an exasperating experience. She was fresh out of college, herself, and most of the students were only 3 to 4 years younger than she was. Between confrontational teenagers, and college preparations, Poppylan was at her wits end. And then there was this one.

Tora Noyouko. Red marks littered the paper as she finished up with her evaluation. She should be thankful she even had a paper to grade. His other teachers complained of his truancy. He rarely showed up to their classes and when he did, he was often belligerent. It was a stark contrast to his almost perfect attendance in her classroom, although he slept for the majority of the lesson. 

He wasn’t dumb by any means, in fact, his literary analysis was spot on and one of the best in the class. However, his writing left a lot to be desired and Poppy wondered if he was really trying or just trolling her on purpose with how bad it was. His grades were a little below borderline and she’d have to at least attempt to bring it up to him, especially with the school year coming to a close. 

‘Good luck with that.’

——

“Claude, I don’t know what you expect. You don’t come to class or turn in assignments. If you want to actually pass the class so you don’t repeat, you need to take some initiative.” Bruh. She added silently as she stared down the troublemaker. He had flipped out on her after he had read the ‘potential to repeat’ notice she had placed on his desk. He was furious and approached her ready to swing, but Poppy really wasn’t in the mood. 

Before he could respond a book came flying from the back of the class, hitting him squarely in the back of his head. “Who the fuck!?” He yelled, turning around, grasping the spot that had taken the assault. 

“Shut the fuck up and sit down. Asshat.” Tora, who had been previously napping behind a textbook, had chucked it straight at his classmate. “Ya gotta be so loud. Just let the entire class know you’re an idiot. Waking me up with ya big mouth.” 

Poppy cringed as she put up her hands. Claude was one thing but adding Tora into it was bound to cause chaos. “Boys, - Claude where are you going?” Claude had turned pale. Throwing his bag on his back, the boy turned tail and fled pushing Poppy out of the way and onto the floor in the process. 

Tora looked absolutely furious and rose from his seat to follow Claude out the door. “Wait!” Came Poppy’s muffled cry from on the floor. The teenager had pushed her in between two desks and while she had easily fallen in the small space separating them, getting back up was proving to be a much more difficult task. 

“Ms. Wilkes, do you need some help? I can move my desk forward for you.” 

“Please do, Alexa. Thank you.” Poppy managed to pull herself off the ground while staying decent in her flowing skirt. 

“Tora, please. Just sit and let’s continue this lesson.” She pleaded with her much taller student. He towered over her and despite him being much taller than Claude she felt no need to get defensive as she had earlier. 

He rolled his golden eyes before taking his seat. “Suit yourself. He’ll get what’s coming to him eventually.” 

“He will. Rest assured. I’ll report him to the head office after class. There’s no point in doing it now since he’s not here anymore. Besides, nothing was hurt except my tailbone and a bit of my pride.” She smiled wearily and resumed her lesson, thankful that there were no interruptions for the remainder of the period. 

The students filed out of the room at the bell, most rushing to get to their next class. She sighed, eyeing the irritating text message that had come through during class. She’d been ignoring it, hoping without reason that it would disappear out of her phone history on its own. She would deal with it later. One of her students had stayed behind; head still on the desk, hiding behind a book that was obviously not the assigned class text. It was hard to miss Tora, with his large frame and legs splayed under the desk in front of him, taking up way too much space. Poppy often had a difficult time referring to him as a boy when he often looked older than she did.

Despite his harsh demeanor to her co-workers, Tora had never shown any animosity toward his English teacher. In fact, he was overly friendly with Poppy, even going as far as calling her by her first name. A trait that she had never managed to correct over the course of the semester. 

  
“Tora,” she called out to her sleeping student coming up to his desk. He had left his black hair unbound, and it framed his face, covering the gages in his ears. Through the inky strands, she could make out a circular tattoo, some kind of logo or symbol, on his neck and she wondered what the meaning behind it was. 

“‘Sup Poppy?” He yawned cutely as he stretched his arms out waking up the rest of his body from his nap. 

“You slept through class. Again.” She crossed her arms, turning the seat in front of him around to sit on the desk.”And what have I told you about calling me by my first name. It’s either Ms. Wilkes, Teacher, or Ma’am.” He ignored her, settling back with his arms behind his head. “We need to discuss your grades. You did receive a notice too.” She reminded him about the paper she had dropped on his desk while he napped. “You’re falling behind and I know this is your last year. I’d hate for you to have to repeat. What would it take for you to pass the last test and your final?” 

He gazed at her, eyes glazing over slightly. “Tora!” She yelled, slapping her hand down at the desk. “Please pay attention.” She glanced at the spine of the book that was propped up on his desk. “This isn’t even the right text….”

She took the book off his desk to take a look at its contents, Tora eyes wide as he tried to stop her. “You don’t want to look at that, Poppy.” He warned her, reaching out to remove the book from her grasp before she could turn it around and see what he had hidden inside. 

Poppylan felt her ears turn red although she wasn’t quite sure if it was with rage, embarrassment or a swirling mixture of the two. She gripped the pages tightly refusing to remove it from her face as Tora tried to coax it out of her hands. Her eyes flitted across the page at naked women in obscene positions.

“Really, Tora. I can at least understand sleeping during class, but am I so boring and uninteresting that you rather look at porn than what I’m teaching?” She struggled to keep her voice from cracking and cringed as she felt the tears well up in her eyes. Between her morning classes, the looks at lunch, Claude, and those horrible texts from Julri, it was all too much. She couldn’t get her students to listen to her, she couldn’t get her man to stay with her. Was she really this pathetic?

“Poppy, you really shouldn’t be looking at that stuff. You’ll go blind.” He said trying to remove the magazine out of her surprisingly strong grasp.

“It’s Ms. Wilkes, you brat.” She grumbled from behind the safety of the magazine. 

“Come on, just let it go. His hands clasped over hers, slowly lowering the book and exposing her tear-stained face. She expected aggravation or disgust to be on his face but instead his golden eyes were filled with concern and something else she couldn’t place. “Somehow I don’t think you’re crying because you found out I snuck a porno into class.” She shook her head, wiping away her tears with the sleeve of her sweater. “This cause of that loser that you broke it off with?” 

Tears were gone and Tora found himself being yanked by the collar of his school uniform. “How did you know about that?” Her face mere inches from his, she could make out the minty scent of his breath trying to mask the scent of cigarettes. He kept the first button on his shirt loose and she tried to avoid looking down at the eyeful of his light brown skin underneath. 

“The whole school knows about you and the third year chemistry teacher, Poppy. That’s old news. I thought you were aware.”

Poppy released him slowly sitting back onto the desk, his undone tie falling through her fingers. “Everyone knows?” She whispered, horrified at what he had just told her. It was bad enough having the teachers talk behind her back, but the students too. 

“Poppy. Look at me.” He had moved to sit across from her on top of his desk, his large arms grasping her shoulders, his knees pressed up against her own. “No one thinks less of ya for it. In fact, most wondered how you ended up with a jackass like that in the first place. I don’t know the details but you must have broken up with him cause he did something bad. Maybe I should have done worse than throw that table after em.” 

“ _ That’s _ why you threw the table?” Her eyes wide as she recalled the incident from a little over a month ago. The two had bumped into each other and Tora had decided that the man needed a table thrown at his face. Poppy still didn’t know how he had wiggled his way out of a suspension or worse. 

“Kinda. Never liked the guy to begin with. He’s a real asshole. And you don’t need to be fretting your cute ass over assholes. If there’s any consolation, you’ve got the hottest, hunkiest guy in school, in your class. And he comes for his lessons without fail pretty much every single day.” He said with a grin.

The redness that had finally managed to seep from her face from earlier reappeared. Tora was already handsome with his long dark hair and honey-filled eyes, but when he smiled. Oh dear god, he had dimples. This was bad. 

“I don’t know how that concerns me. I’m your teacher. And I’m not a p-pedophile or an ephebophile.” She stammered out, angry that for a second she had actually thought about it. Angry that her body had reacted to the thought and that her face had yet to cool. 

“I’m already 18, Pops. Completely legal.” 

“Don’t be cheeky with me, brat. You’re still my student. And it’s Ms. Wilkes!”

“I’m cheeky? You’re the one that hauled me over the desk by my shirt pressing up to me with ya warm, soft, —“

“OH MY GOD! Don’t finish that sentence!!” She threw her body off the desk and out his grasp as she folded her hands over her chest. She could just see her pink slip being written already. 

“Sweater. Ms. Wilkes, your warm, soft, sweater. Where was your mind goin?” He pressed his body against her back, whispering in her ear.

“Stop!” She backed away from him holding out her palm. “This.” She motioned between them. “Can’t happen.” 

“Ya face is all red. Heart’s beating fast. Not crying about that loser anymore either. So why not?” 

“Because you’re my student. And I’m your teacher. And I don’t want to get fired.” 

“No ones going to mess with you if you’re with me. How do you think I get away with everything? All the teachers are either scared of me or I got dirt on em.” 

She nodded. He was probably right about that. He never seemed to get in trouble despite his delinquent state. “That may be so. But it’s not a risk I’m willing to take.” 

“What about when I’m not your student anymore? After graduation?” He raised his eyebrow at her as she actually started to contemplate the idea and decided to push harder. “You asked what it would take for me to pass. If I pass this class, you’ll go out with me when school is over.” He propositioned.

“All of your classes.” She bargained. “I’ve heard from your other teachers. You’re borderline in Calculus and World History. You’re smart and do well on tests but you don’t show up to class and miss a lot of work. I don’t know what class you’re supposed to have now, but I can find out. Pass all of your classes enough to graduate, and I’ll go out on a date with you after graduation.”

“Dates. Multiple. One that’ll include dinner at your place. I have a free period now. Didn’t make sense to take an unnecessary class when I would skip it anyway.”

“You run a hard bargain.”

He shrugged. “You added in two extra classes, neither of which you’re teaching, so there’s no incentive for me to be there. Oh, yeah, one more thing. I want a kiss. Not a peck, not a brush of the lips, a good kiss.” 

She flushed, the redness in her face now spreading down her neck. “Is that all?”

“Sleep with me.”

Her eyes opened wide and she tightened her fist ready to punch him in his face. “Absolutely not.”

He chuckled at her reaction. “That’s fine. Just thought I’d throw it in there since I’ve been thinking about it since I first saw you on campus. So, what do you say about the rest of it, Ms.Wilkes?” 

Of course, now he starts calling her by her last name. And the more he used it, the more perverse he made it sound. With only six weeks left until the end of the school year it was bound to pass by quickly. She glanced at him. But what would Tora actually want with her outside of school. She barely knew him, although he seemed to know more about her. And then there was this attraction. Despite his aggression, Poppy was sure he could get any girl in school to drop her panties with those eyes and body of his. Yet here he was wasting his attention on his English teacher. 

But the way he was looking at her now. The way he had felt as he pressed against her to whisper in her ear. She was the older, more experienced person. She shouldn’t be getting flustered so easily. She had never gotten so riled up with Julri. Maybe it was a sign. Maybe it was time to move on and to take a chance.

“Poppy?” He asked hesitantly and she was surprised at the slight fear in his eyes. 

“I’m going to get myself fired,” she muttered under her breath before clearing her throat. “Fine. I accept your conditions. And you have yourself a deal

**Author's Note:**

> This can be a stand-alone one shot, or I can expand it into a multi-chapter fic. I’m not sure which direction I’m going to go yet. Let me know your preference and what you thought about this.


End file.
